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Monday, October 29, 2007

FIFA To End World Cup Continent Rotation

Image courtesyof Wikipedia.

In an article today on BBC Online, FIFA President Joseph "Sepp" Blatter announced that World Cups would no longer be rotated around the world. Before 2002, the only places to host the competition were North/Central America, South America, and Europe. After the success of the joint Asian bid between Japan and Korea in 2002, FIFA decided to open the opportunities to more continents. South Africa missed by only one vote to host World Cup 2006; however, they were chosen as the first African nation to host the competition in 2010.

"Fifa boss Sepp Blatter indicated there has been widespread interest in hosting the 2018 World Cup. He said: 'Already we have a bunch of big, great candidates.'

These include the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg who have made a joint offer to host the event, while China, Australia, Mexico, the United States, Russia and Spain have also expressed interest. Countries belonging to confederations that hosted the two preceding tournaments are barred from applying.

For 2018, that would rule out bids from Africa or South America, with South Africa hosting the tournament in 2010 and Brazil poised to be confirmed as 2014 hosts this week."

Notes: 30 October 2007

After an absence of 64 years, Brasil was named host for World Cup 2014. Congratulations to the people of Brasil! To read more about it by Tim Vickery of the BBC, please click here.

You will also find a review about Carlo Ancelotti's excellent book on tactics. There are excerpts from a factual novel about Gaetano Scirea along with Francesco Totti's humorous yet historical guidebook on ancient Rome.

6. Featured Review

Image credit: Nation Books.

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